Dairy Free, Delicious Eggnog

Dairy Free, Delicious Eggnog

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas season is here! I’m so looking forward to posting all kinds of Christmas recipes for you.

Here’s what I have in store this month: fun holiday drinks, cute recipes for entertaining, healthy comfort foods on a cold wintery day, easy crockpot meals for when you’ve had a busy day rushing around from all the holiday madness, and of course the “healthier,” but not less delicious, desserts. I’m most excited about the dessert part because, well….it’s dessert….no explanation necessary 🙂

To start the Christmas season off with a bang, I’m starting off with this delcious EGGNOG!

The taste and smell of eggnog stirs up wonderful Christmas memories for me. When I was a child, eggnog was a special treat reserved only for Christmas morning breakfast. I loved it so much and savored every last drop knowing I would have to wait a whole year until I was able to taste it again.

Now, I can make it myself and it still brings those great memories and puts me in the Christmas spirit. I’ve been experimenting with some dairy free, less sugar, and healthier versions of my favorite holiday drink and and this is my favorite. It is so rich and creamy – it’s almost as thick as a milkshake! And it tastes just like the eggnog I remember having for all those Christmas morning breakfasts, but without all that dairy.

I don’t like to waste food, so I used some of the egg whites to make a fun cinnamon spiced meringue topping. I think the meringue topping and the toasted coconut rimmed glass add an extra special touch and make drinking these way more fun. If you want to have even more fun, go ahead and add in the spiced rum 😉

*If you are allergic to coconut and can tolerate dairy, a dairy version would look the same, except substitute the coconut milk with milk and/or heavy cream (I would do a 50/50 combination of milk/heavy cream if it were me). I’ve never made it with almond milk, but would imagine it would work and taste great, too. I’d guess that it would not get quite as thick, rich and creamy, though. If anyone tries it with almond milk, let me know the results!

Whisk together the egg yolks, honey, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon in a medium bowl until smooth. Set aside.

Over medium high heat, bring the coconut milk to a simmer, stirring often.

Pour half of the heated coconut milk into the bowl with the egg mixture and whisk together until well blended and pour it back into the pot with the rest of the coconut milk.

Turn down the heat to medium low and stir constantly until the mixture is very thick – about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

If you are using spiced rum, pour the rum in the eggnog now.

Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight for best results (something magical happens overnight - the eggnog fairies must come because the flavors blend and it gets amazingly thick and creamy).

To make the meringue topping:

Blend the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Add in maple syrup or honey or sweetener of choice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Continue blending until very stiff peaks form.

Add a dollop on top of the chilled eggnog.

Top with optional toppings if you wish and serve chilled. Enjoy!

Notes

HOW TO TOAST COCONUT AND RIM YOUR GLASS WITH COCONUT:Place shredded, flaked or shaved coconut into a skillet over medium heat. Stir often and cook until most of the coconut turns golden brown. It will only take a minute or two.To rim your glass: With a small brush (or your finger), thinly coat the rim of your glass with some warmed honey. Place the shredded coconut on a plate. Gently press the rim of the glass on the plate with the coconut. Gently rotate or rock back and forth until the coconut sticks to the rim of the glass.

Awesome, thanks for the comments!! I love this stuff so much, too. I’ve been experimenting using this eggnog in different baked goods and the results have been amazing. Can’t wait to share them with you 🙂

This recipe is so good! We made them last night and I was so happy to have a recipe and not have to buy it. Drinking eggnog might just have to be our new ritual for the weekends before Christmas. I was hoping to have some leftover for breakfast today, but everyone slurped them up last night. Thank you!

Hey Rachel! That’s the eggwhite merinague topping with some toasted coconut! After using all those egg yolks for the eggnog, I had all those egg whites leftover. I thought a merinague topping sounded good so I tried it and it was a nice addition 🙂 Your wassail was a huge hit last night!!! I’m def. making it again for our next party! Not to mention it was the best home air freshener ever.

I just posted a review of your amazing banana bread recipe on my brand new blog. (It’s one of only 2 recipes that I haven’t had to change in some way. :D) I saw this on the bottom of your page when I linking your recipe as recommendation. I am getting my tonsils out next Tuesday and I am so making this! Eggnog…it’s not just for Christmastime anymore!

Hmm…not sure what went wrong, I tempered the yolks carefully but when I poured the mix back into the saucepan, in about a minute it looked like a sauce does when it breaks :(. I used my immersion blender, but it didn’t help. It didn’t thicken, so I ran it through a milk bag. Its about 80% solid in the bag and 20% thin, milky looking eggnog strained. I’m gonna keep working on it, but I’m not sure homemade coconut milk will work…for me anyway! Suggestions?

So delicious! I cut the recipe in half because I only had one can of coconut milk – it came out thick enough to be more like a pudding than a milkshake, but so yummy! And funny thing… I put it in the freezer for a quick chill because I wanted to drink some the same night I made it, but then forgot about it until the morning. Excellent “ice cream”! My new KitchenAid mixer is under the tree, with strict admonition from my hubby to not open it until Christmas. So I think Christmas night I’ll make the meringue topping. Merry Christmas, Kelly – thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiments with us.

hands up the best eggnog i’ve ever had!! granted, i haven’t had it in a long time because i used to a vegan before i started paleo… so i can’t totally remember the taste. i can guarantee that this is better than anything i’ve had as a kid though!! i had it for breakfast today and it was perfect. i think it’s going in my regular breakfast rotation since it’s got fat, protein, and carbs. perfect for after my workout.

Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I was looking for a recipe that joined eggs and coconut milk because I figured the egg would emulsify my coconut milk and keep it from separating. Duh, eggnog! Even without adding any sweetener, this is still a wonderfully rich drink. I am going to try it in coffee and see how it goes.

Also, using the whites for meringue is a great idea. But don’t discard the other whites! You can make extra meringues and freeze them individually on parchment paper. Or, and this is what I am going to do, make coconut macaroons to eat with the eggnog!

I am really enjoying your site, Kelly. It is very warm and welcoming at the same time as being informative and relevant. I certainly appreciate all you do for your readers!

Anne, thank you so much for your sweet comment and kind words! That means a lot to me 🙂 I LOVE your idea of freezing them on parchment paper – I never would have thought of that and I’m going to remember that from now on. Another thing I like to do when I have leftover whites is to use them for a quick firming and tightening face mask – I just smear the egg white all over my face and let it dry. My face loves the little extra treat 🙂

Primally Inspired is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.